Three Berry Birthday Cream Cheese Frosting @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: We had lots of family visiting last month, and I was asked to make the birthday cake for my five year old granddaughter, Thea. She is a fan of berries of all kinds, including blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries. She's also a fan of sugar, so I hoped this icing would be perfect.

First, I made a yellow cake, you can find the recipe here. And then frosted it with a very pink berry frosting. And because at the last minute she changed her mind and wished she was getting a rainbow cake, we added sprinkles. 

To be perfectly honest, the icing turned out kind of droopy. I think it was partly due to the heat and humidity, partly to the frozen strawberries I included, and partly to adding more berries than the cream cheese could support. It was delicious anyway, and everyone loved it.

Ingredients for the frosting

1 8 ounce package cream cheese

1 8 ounce stick of unsalted butter

About 4 cups of powdered sugar

1 cup strawberries

One package blueberries

One package fresh raspberries

Several tablespoons good raspberry jam

Bring the cream cheese and the salted butter to room temperature. For this cake, I used a container of frozen strawberries from our garden. I drained them on paper towels so they would not be too liquid. (As you'll see, I wasn't 100% successful!)

Mash the cream cheese and the butter together. Add the strawberries and beat until fairly smooth. Now comes the artistic part, continue to beat, adding the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time. You will be obligated to taste in order to see where to stop when it’s sweet enough. I stopped at 4 1/2 cups.

Spread a layer of raspberry jam on the top of one of your cake layers. Layer some of the frosting over the top and place the second layer on top of that. Frost in the top of the cake.

Now place the layer cake and the extra frosting in the refrigerator so it can firm up. Otherwise it will run down on the sides and pool on your cake plate. When you judge that the frosting is thick enough, frost the sides of the cake and the top.

Decorate with the blueberries and raspberries. We added sprinkles and a candle for the birthday girl. Keep cold until serving. And if there is any leftover cake, be sure to refrigerate it.

Happy birthday or whatever!

The 11th book in Lucy's Key West food critic mystery series, A Scone of Contention, is on bookshelves near you. You can find it wherever books are sold!

A scone-by-scone tour of glorious Scotland. Foodies and Outlander fans will rejoice in the references to both in this not-so-mysterious paean to Scotland. –Kirkus

Cream Cheese Icing for Hummingbird Cupcakes from Vicki Delany

 Last time I shared my recipe for hummingbird cupcakes. You can use your favourite icing on these cupcakes, but I like this cream cheese recipe.

Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients

• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 3-3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add confectioners’ sugar and vanilla; beat until smooth. Spread or pipe onto each cupcake.

 

Coming July 27 from Kensington, the second TEA BY THE SEA mystery, MURDER IN A TEACUP.

” Delany expertly blends a cunning mystery plot with diverting characters and sparkling dialogue.” Publishers Weekly

“Quirky characters, a lovely setting, and a surprising denouement make this second installment a charmer.” Kirkus

 

Celebrate Raspberry Cake Day with @LucyBurdette #recipe

LUCY BURDETTE: Imagine my surprise and pleasure when I learned that July 31 is Raspberry Cake Day! (At least it isn't Moldy Cheese Day--I kid you not, that's on the calendar for October 9. Who thinks these things up?)

Of course you know what came next...I had to make a raspberry cake to share with you. As it turns out we were getting together with friends and I was able to wrestle the dessert assignment away from the other cooks. This recipe turned out so well that I will certainly be using it in the next food critic mystery--I'm thinking Hayley Snow will make it for the man she hopes will become her Valentine. (She's putting a lot of pressure on the cake, but more about that to come later.)

I borrowed this unusual order for putting the cake together from the BACK IN THE DAY BAKERY COOKBOOK, one of my newest acquisitions. The same method is recommended in one of my old favorites, JOY OF COOKING, one of my first cookbooks. If I say so myself, it turned out to be amazing!

Ingredients for the cake

1 and 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 and 3/4 cup cake flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
2 cups sugar
3/4 tsp salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened but still cool
1 cup milk 
4 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract 

3-4 Tbsp good quality raspberry jam

Ingredients for the icing

1 8 oz block cream cheese
1 stick unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla
confectioner's sugar

2 boxes of fresh raspberries--about 30 for the icing, and 40ish for decoration

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two 9-inch cake pans by buttering them well, lining with parchment, and then buttering the parchment too.
       Mix all the dry cake ingredients in bowl of electric mixer at slow speed. Add cool cubes of butter, a few at a time, and continue beating on low for about 1-2 minutes. Beat the eggs in one at a time, mixing well but minimally after each.

 Mix the milk with the extracts.

    Add 1/2 cup of milk mixture to flour mixture and beat until combined. Add remaining 1/2 cup of milk mixture and beat for about 1 minute.

    Pour batter evenly into the two prepared cake pans.

    Bake until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and cake springs back when touched, in the neighborhood of 25 minutes. (Watch this because you don't want to overcook...)

    Cool the pans  for ten minutes, then remove the cakes, one to a plate and the other to waxed paper, and allow them to cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, prepare the frosting by beating together the cream cheese and butter, then add vanilla and confectioner's sugar to your taste. (I used about a cup.) Now gradually beat in the raspberries until your desired pink color is achieved.




Spread one of the cooled cakes with a layer of frosting, and then a layer of jam.

Layer on the other cake. Frost top and sides and decorate with remaining berries.








Prepare for your guests to swoon! (SHOULD there be any left over, refrigerate until you are ready to eat it.)

MURDER WITH GANACHE, the fourth Key West mystery, is in stores now. DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS will be out in December.

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A Carrot Cake for Carrot Cake Lovers (and Haters) @LucyBurdette

 LUCY BURDETTE: I cracked myself up with the title for this post, because one of my favorite Key West characters is the Cat Man, Dominque, and his flying house cats. They put on a show every night at Mallory Square. All the while he's setting up his carriers full of cats and stools and rings, he's announcing in a funny French accent:

 "Cat show for cat lovers, in five minutes!"

So, "Carrot cake for carrot cake lovers, in five minutes"...but in this case, it's for carrot cake haters too:)

Jeff with our daughter Molly

Last week I described the recipe for the stuffed shrimp that I made for my son-in-law's birthday. The other special request he had was for carrot cake. Now I am not a big fan of carrot cake--in fact I had never made one. And if faced with a supermarket carrot cake, I will always pass a slice by. However, I do believe that the birthday person should have the homemade cake of his or her dreams. So I began to search for a recipe online, and also consulted carrot cake experts floating around on Facebook.

Most of the carrot cake recipes I read used oil instead of butter. While oil in a cake seems like sacrilege to me, I bowed to the majority opinion that in carrot cake, the oil helps the lightness and texture. In the end, I chose to make the cake with 1/2 cup of olive oil and 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce. I also added pineapple and raisins and skipped the nutmeg while doubling the cinnamon.

I have to admit that the end result was delicious! (The cream cheese icing helps a lot...)

1 or so pound carrots, washed, peeled, cut into chunks
1 cup pecan halves, toasted
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
4 oz unsweetened apple sauce
2 cups flour
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup raisins, optional
1/2 cup crushed pineapple in juice

Icing

8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 oz butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
powdered sugar
 orange zest





Grind the carrots in a food processor until fairly fine. This should measure about 3 cups. Grind the pecan halves until fine. Set these ingredients aside. Preheat the oven to 350. Butter or oil a 9 x 12 inch pan.

 





 


In a large bowl, beat the two sugars with the oil and the applesauce. In a second bowl, combine the baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and flour. In a third bowl, beat the eggs with the vanilla. 


Add the dry and egg mixtures alternately into the sugar mixture, beating after each addition. At the end, stir in the carrots, nuts, raisins, and pineapple until well combined.

 











Pour this into the oiled pan. Bake at 350 for about 35-45 minutes until the top springs back when touched and a toothpick or knife stabbed into the cake comes out clean. (You will have to keep an eye on this.) Cool.    








 





Beat the cream cheese with the butter, orange zest, and vanilla. Gradually beat in sugar until it's the consistency you like. I used about 2 cups. Frost the cooled cake. 
 







Refrigerate, but let it sit out 30-45 minutes before serving. (Some bakers say the cake tastes better the second day, which is when we ate ours. Though it's a big cake, so we also ate it on the third day!)

Lucy Burdette is the author of the Key West food critic mysteries. MURDER WITH GANACHE will be out on February 4, but you can pre-order it now.

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And oh heck, why not a giveaway here today too? Just share this post to Twitter or Facebook, and then let me know you've done so in the comments. Your name will be entered in the drawing--thanks!